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All right I'll just read to you 1st Corinthians 5 11 but now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such and one known not to eat. Yes this is sins that will get you kicked out of church part five. Okay sins that will get you kicked out of church part five. The best title I've got for this sermon is drunkenness just just that one word drunkenness again if you guys have a fancy name for the sermon tonight let me know and I might change it. Okay but um so we're gonna be talking about alcohol about drunkenness because obviously what we just read there is that someone that is a drunkard ought to be kicked out of the church. Okay now you might say yeah but a drunk is just hurting themselves. Yeah but you know what they will bring an influence into the church and they will cause others to drink with them. Okay because it appeals to the flesh it is something that appeals to flesh something that God commands us to kick people out of the church. Now when it comes to this topic I've got to talk about a few things here let me just let me just start off by saying this the topic of alcohol just for me personally I've got a very low interest in it okay and you might say well why why do you have a low interest? Simply because I hate the stuff I mean I don't need to read the Bible to despise it I just don't I've I've never just just personally I've never liked the taste I've never had an addiction to it I've never had an interest in it I gave it I gave it a go I'll be honest with you I confess in my sins to you you know when you turn 18 now you've got you're of that legal age and you know you have your buddies you have parties you drink and all that kind of I gave it a go I tried to force myself to like because everyone else seemed to like it I tried to force myself to like it I just wasn't interested I got to a point I was like yeah this is this is rubbish this is a waste of time I didn't even have a conviction of it being a sin or anything like that I just I just didn't like it there's something like it's like I don't like olives you know it's not because I think it's sinful anything I just don't like I just don't like olives you know there are certain things that you just can't acquire a taste for and when I met Christina you know she saw the the impact that alcohol can have on a family and and she had no desire for alcohol as well you know just the smell of wine made her disgusted so you know I married a woman that just had no interest I personally had no interest it was never something that I really thought I really wanted to stay but one thing that I found interesting is not so much the doctrine but just an interesting just how many people I want to know what the Bible teaches about this because I used to think it was pretty straightforward I used to think that was just yeah just don't drink I mean that because you find many passages teaching this but what I find amongst Christians there are basically three positions out there number one that you know pretty much everyone agrees drunkenness is a sin okay but then you have you know whether you should even you know how far do you go as far as abstinence goes with alcohol you know even if you just look at alcohol is that a sin you know that's that's one extreme and the other the other area is well we know drunkenness is wrong but you know maybe we can just have you know moderately you know drink alcohol moderately as long as we don't get drunk that kind of thing so I want to cover all these things and with a material that I got together for this I could have easily preached three sermons like a series of three things and alcohol I didn't want to do that so I've what I've done I've tried to keep the main points here so the main arguments I wanted to to touch you know be thorough with the topic but not going to the detail that I feel that I need to though if you do have questions if you do feel there's a need for us as a church to go through this in great detail let me know and it's probably something I can dig out and do a whole series on but unless is that there is a problem in the church with alcohol I'm probably going to keep that on the side for now and just just cover some of the basic truths but when it comes to the topic of wine in the Bible so the Bible talks a lot about wine okay and he mentions other kinds of alcohol products like strong drink and and things of this nature but when it comes to wine you basically fall into one of two camps as a Christian there's the first camp well I don't know if it's the first camp I can't say it's the first but there's two camps one camp is that the word wine in the Bible always means alcoholic wine that's one view okay and my sending church had that view that it basically every time it's wine it's it's alcoholic wine that's that's one camp that you can sort of fall into so whether whether it's a positive mention whether it's a negative mention doesn't matter it's always alcoholic wine okay the camp that I thought I personally fall into and I think most of you do I think from the discussions we've had is that wine in the Bible can either mean alcoholic or non non alcoholic beverage one or the other it's wine is just the product of of the grape vine okay so like in Spanish for example wine is vino and the vine is vina so wine and vine basically the same root words so pretty much any product that comes from that grapevine could rightly be called wine okay now please turn to Genesis chapter 9 Genesis chapter 9 verse 20 Genesis chapter 9 verse 20 I want to just look at first of all the first mention okay the first mention of the word wine in the Bible the first mention of the word wine and because a lot of people teach this concept or it's called the first mention principle or the law of first mention and it's basically if you want to know how God feels about a topic then you know it's good to go to the first mention of that word okay and so this is the first mention of the word wine and I let me just say I don't fully subscribe to the first the law of first mention okay but anyway let's look at this Genesis chapter 9 verse 20 this is the story of Noah so after God destroyed the world with a flood you know Noah came off the ark and then it says here in verse 20 and Noah began to be a husband's man and he planted a vineyard and he drank of the wine so that's the first mention of the word wine he drank of the wine and was what drunken and he was uncovered within his tent so he falls drunk and then he's not he's naked okay and ham the father of Canaan saw the drunkenness of his father and told his two brethren without and Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon their shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father and their faces were backward and they saw and they saw not their father's nakedness and Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done unto him and he said cursed be Canaan a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren so this is the first mention of wine Noah drinks of it he falls drunk he falls asleep and if you follow the story it's not in any any any sort of great detail but it appears here that Ham one of his sons molested him okay did some sort of a you know some sort of sexual act on him or something I don't know okay the Bible doesn't really clearly lay it out for us but when you look at verse 24 it says and Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done unto him so he had done something he didn't just notice that Noah was naked but he had done something something wicked to him which is why in verse 25 he curses the family he curses Canaan which is which is the son of Ham but he curses that family and that they would be servants of the brethren there okay so that's the first mention of wine and it's linked with drunkenness okay and it's also linked with the lewd lewd act okay a sexual perversion something something disgusting I don't want to really want to go into that right now now that's the law of first mention we could say well you know yep we see this is the first mention of wine and we see that it that it's um it's alcoholic okay but that's why I prefer not the law of first mention but the law of all mention okay I would rather just go through the Bible and look at every time you know that word is referenced and just read every part of it to get a fuller picture so if you can please turn due to Deuteronomy Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 13 Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 13 because when you take the law of all mention you start to notice that the word wine yes yes in our society today the word wine is alcoholic but you'll soon see once you read through the Bible and pay attention to the word it doesn't always refer to a drink that's been fermented that's taken time for it to turn into an alcoholic beverage okay you'll see that it'll it'll it is also fresh grape juice fresh juice that's come from the grapevine Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 13 this is referring to here the land of Canaan to the Promised Land so you know God sent Israel into the Promised Land and he said look I'll take care of you there I'll make sure that land is blessed and takes care of your needs look at verse 13 Deuteronomy 11 verse 13 God says to him and it shall come to pass if you shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul that I will give you the reign of your land in his due season the first rain and the latter rain that thou mayest gather in thy corn and look and thy wine and thine oil okay and I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle that thou mayest eat and be full so God is saying look if you keep my commandments I will bless the land and it'll be fruitful to you you know you'll be able to gather the corn he says and the wine well hold on God you know does wine just automatically you know that does that does great just automatically just become wine you know are they just going into the land and just just taking the wine no if he's talking about the land being blessed you know the corn growing and they're being wine for them because why because it's freshly squeezed grapes okay it's not something they've got to take ferments put it in barrels and wait for a time of you know processing now God this is something that God will be able to provide to them straight from the land okay and that's not an alcoholic beverage that is fresh fruit and fresh juice that comes from that fruit I'll just read to you Proverbs chapter 3 verse 10 Proverbs chapter 3 verse 10 it says so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine so what's a press what's a wine press you know when people want to make great juice they'll take the grapes and they'll have equipment to squash those grapes to press those grapes so that the juice will flow or you know in in some of the you know in France and things like that they would trample you know some European countries would trample on the grapes with their feet and press it that way you know so the juice would flow but again that's freshly squeezed juice God calls it here new wine so that would be non alcoholic wine right because you don't get alcoholic wine straight out of grapes otherwise when you go to the fruit market and eat grapes you know my kids will all be drunk or something like that right that's not going to happen because it's freshly squeezed new wine and I'll read to you also Isaiah 65 verse 8 you don't need to turn there Isaiah 65 verse 8 just the first part it says thus say if the Lord as the new wine is found in the cluster so what's a cluster if you talk about a cluster of grapes it's grapes that are still on the vine right a cluster or something that you've taken out something that has not yet been squeezed or pressed God calls what's in there new wine so we can see I think it's pretty easy I don't know how people fall into that camp where every mention of wine is alcoholic I don't really understand that because this is just a few there's many more references that you can look you can see yep the word wine also refers to our freshly squeezed juice okay without it being fermented so I just wanted to prove that to you now some people say well you know you've Kevin you've been influenced you know you've been influenced by the independent fundamental Baptist or you've been influenced by fundamental Christianity to to come up with this idea that wine can also mean non alcoholic wine okay so what I did just to combat that idea that it's just this sort of fundamental you know legalistic view of Christianity you know I well I had a look this didn't take me too long to find on Google but there are there writings of people in history referring to the word wine as freshly squeezed grape juice this isn't just something that's in the Bible you know this is something that was common in people's writings so I'll just give you some examples of this not that this matters but just to reinforce the fact this isn't just something Christians came up with you know to you know hide the fact that you know you can drink alcohol or something like that but 300 BC so 300 years before Christ there was a there was a Greek politician called Callie Callie Zenas Callie Zenas and he was a contemporary of Socrates a lot most people know who Socrates was a philosopher but he was he lived in the same time and he was a Greek politician he wrote about that he wrote that they were trampling on the grapes and the new wine ran out over the road so it's something that grapes that are on the road people steep people ask stepping on those grapes and new wine coming out of those grapes and could you use the word wine there okay that's uh that's before Jesus Christ now 350 to 400 AD there were there was a writing in in the Torah okay the Jewish Torah there's there's a part of the Torah called the Gemara which is like a commentary on the Torah and within that commentary it talks about wine being preserved in its grapes so within the grape itself like the cluster that we read about earlier there's there's wine okay so even even then they use wine to refer to you know juice that's still in the grapes you know not non-alcoholic non-fermented and then something closer to the King James Bible in 1670 AD there was an English author called Edward Phillips and he wrote about wine that was newly pressed from the grapes okay newly pressed from grapes he called that wine okay didn't have time to be fermented just newly pressed wine he caused that and of course there's the 1828 Noah dictionary Noah Webster's dictionary and he refers to new wine being wine pressed from the grapes but not fermented okay so we can just see just through history and I found a lot more I just wanted to give you a taste of it you know before Christ a bit after Christ King James Bible and something a little bit closer to our time you know the word wine could have been used for alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage you know it's kind of like the word gay right you know if the Bible refers has that word gay you know gay clothing something that's happy something that's that's joyful right and but most people today this generation I think my kid generation would probably think of gay as a faggot gay as a sodomite as a homosexual and that's what they think about today but you know I grew up in the 80s and the Flintstones the Flintstones was a 60s cartoon but I watched it in the 80s I don't know if the rest of you guys if you're about my age and remember that that song right at the end it goes that we'll have a gay old time so you know I kind of grew up knowing okay that word gay it does not necessarily mean homosexuals you know it also means being happy or a joyful time or something like that okay so but you know I guess people don't really watch those cartoons now and and you know just because a word loses its meaning over time doesn't mean that's what you know it did have that meaning in the past so you can't just necessarily take today's meaning and apply that everywhere in the Bible okay so I just wanted to show you a few things there that wine can mean alcoholic and non-alcoholic and why I'm in that camp okay I don't think that's a difficult one I don't think that's a controversial I think that's pretty straightforward okay now the question that comes a lot to me and ever since I became a pastor I get random people asking me I've told a few of you guys just people calling me up I don't know who they are and one of the main questions they asked me is is alcohol a sin you know is alcohol a sin and I've kind of learnt that that's a bad question okay that's a bad question the reason it's a bad question is because I can give you free answers to that question okay and this is what I want to preach about today I kind of thought a bit of structured around these free questions free answers to this question and what I feel like is sometimes people ask a question that can mean different things in order to make you trip over yourself okay so my answer to that question is is alcohol a sin they don't ask is beer a sin they don't ask is is wine a sin they ask is alcohol a sin okay very or you know yeah that question and the answer to that is no yes and yes no yes and yes so I'm gonna walk through these answers with you okay so don't panic when I said no just give me the time to explain so let's just talk about the no first is alcohol a sin no okay because all alcohol is is a liquid created by fermentation that's all it is if you buy fruit juice and you leave it off you know if you buy fruit juice it says consume it within two to five days or something like that but if you leave it longer than that guess what's going to happen because of the sugars in it it's going to start to ferments okay it's been exposed to oxygen it's you know the bacteria and start to flies in the air the sugar it's going to convert it it's going to ferment and there's going to have traces of alcohol in it okay so did that great just all of a sudden become sinful well you know no it's just a chemical compound that's all it is it's just it's just fermentation when yeast or bacteria breaks down sugar and generate and creates alcohol okay a chemical compound is not a sin it's just a chemical compound it's just something that exists okay there's alcohol in your body okay there's a certain part in you that there's just naturally in your body there's a bit of alcohol does that mean you're a sin because you've got alcohol in you know okay it's just it's just something okay it's just a chemical compound and I look this up the most common type of alcohol is a product called ethanol ethanol okay that's your that's what you drink if you drink a beer or wine or something like that you're drinking ethanol that's a type of alcohol because alcohol alcohol can fall into different categories okay now all ethanol is is two carbon molecules one from I've written this down run from one from the methyl group and one from the methylene group which is attached to one oxygen oxygen molecule from the high hydroxyl group okay so that's what it is it's just chemicals that are generated through fermentation and in of itself it is not a sin it's like cannabis it's like marijuana it's just a plant it's just a herb it's just something that grows out of the ground it's not a sin in of itself okay it can be used for good and it can be used for evil okay and I'll put it to you as well alcohol can be used for good and it can be used for evil so in of itself it is not a sin okay and I think this is important to drive home because you know people that that you know as parents we might have concerns about kids being taught drinking alcohol in moderation may cause them to become drunkards in the future because they'll be like I can drink alcohol and start drinking alcohol and then they increase the intake they get addicted to the staff and they become you know derelicts or something like that that that is one true concern but another concern that I've seen amongst fundamentalism is when people teach that basically alcohol in of itself is a sin like like to the extreme that you can't even look at it kind of thing okay but then what happens is and this is what what causes kids to rebel is when they see the inconsistencies when they say hold on it's supposed to be a sin but you've got it all over your house you use alcohol in many many ways and I'll just show you I'll give you a list of what they are in a minute because if I say if I went to your house right now I promise you I'll find alcohol in your house okay I'll find alcohol it doesn't matter how how against you are on alcohol I'll find in your house because alcohol can be used for good like I said let me give you some examples of this moisturizing cream if you if anyone uses moisturizing cream guess what it's got alcohol if anyone uses sunscreen it's got alcohol in fact any kind of creams like toothpaste has alcohol in it okay because the thing about it breaks breaks it down so it remains smooth and runny otherwise without it your products will harden up okay what else mouthwash let's mention toothpaste your mouthwash if you use mouthwash has alcohol in it superglue if you use superglue again so it doesn't harden as you know it's got alcohol in it I don't know if if ladies if you make dessert and bake cakes and stuff if you if you use vanilla extract that's got a high high amount of alcohol it's about 35% vanilla extract if you've eaten vanilla ice cream most more often than not that vanilla ice cream has been made from vanilla extract so it's got some some percentage of alcohol in it okay antibacterial products I mean the list goes on if I went to your house I will just find a number of products that have alcohol in it does that mean you're in sin well no the first answer to that is no it's not a sin okay because it's just a chemical okay and if you I don't know if you guys want to save a little bit of money like I do when you put fuel into your car I put the e10 stuff that's ethanol that's alcohol that's the same alcohol that is in beer and wine okay it's an ethanol based fuel so I mean are you committed sin by putting that kind of fuel into your car no I mean of course not okay so that's the first answer I know that might seem silly but I think it's important okay because again you know when kids grow up in the teenagers and and they find inconsistencies that's when they rebel honestly that's what causes them to rebel and they'll be like well forget this I'll just go and drink anyway because mom and dad have alcohol-based products Oh mom made you know vanilla muffins you know using vanilla extract and that had alcohol in it what why is it fine for them not fine for me so I want to make sure that's well understood okay I think that's important the second quit the next question again is is alcohol a sin well the second answer is yes it's a sin we've already seen that drunkenness will get you kicked out of church and sometimes people are just referred to drunkenness because obviously when you fall drunk it's because of alcohol okay it's because you've lost your sobriety you've drunk too much alcohol you've absorbed too much into into your body and you've become a drunkard okay yes drunkenness is a sin this is less controversial I think most Christians I think every Christian across the board admit yeah drunkenness is a sin even if they think it's it's okay to drink moderately they still acknowledge that drunkenness is a sin and it'll get you kicked out of the church now please turn to Leviticus chapter 10 Leviticus chapter 10 verse 8 Leviticus chapter 10 verse 8 I could feel this sermon we've we've we've passages about drunkenness and how bad it is and I do have some passages about that but I just want to draw some truths here okay so first thing I want you to understand is in the book of Leviticus Aaron was the first Levitical priests right and then his family became priests for Israel okay now God says something to them in Leviticus chapter 10 verse 8 let's look at this Leviticus chapter 10 verse 8 and the Lord spake unto Aaron saying do not drink wine nor strong drink was Aaron allowed to drink wine no was he allowed to drink strong drink that's other varieties of alcohol based products no he wasn't allowed out nor thy sons with thee when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation lest ye die it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations they say well why what's the problem with the priests drinking alcohol now it's God saying don't get drunk it's God saying don't get drunk no he's saying don't drink it he's not he's not talking about drunkenness he's just saying don't drink it right verse number 10 why are they not to drink it and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean so their job was to teach Israel what was holy and what was unholy what was clean and what was unclean they had to pass judgment they had to teach the Word of God to Israel so if they would drink in alcoholic products guess what that means it would have messed up their judgment it would have would have interrupted their understanding of what was clean and unclean right then judgment would have been impaired had they drunk alcohol again God's not saying hey drink but make sure you don't get drunk he's saying don't drink at all because God knows even just a little bit will make your judgment impaired okay now turn to Proverbs if you go back to Proverbs Proverbs chapter 31 Proverbs chapter 31 so the truth I wanted to grab out of Leviticus is that priests were not allowed to drink alcohol let alone get drunk okay but they were not allowed to drink alcohol turn to Proverbs 31 Proverbs 31 verse 4 Proverbs 31 verse 4 this is I believe Solomon's mother speaking to Solomon okay and this is recorded to us as the Word of God it says the mother speaking to Lemuel which is a nickname for for Solomon it is not for kings a Lemuel it is not for kings to drink wine nor for princes strong drink kind of the same instructions that were given to the priests no wine no strong drink why why verse number five lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted so again we see the same reason because if you drink alcohol you drink wine or string strong drink it's going to impair your judgment okay and the kings make judgment back then right they were the law they weren't just you know the kings that we have today you know the monarchy in England just just a face you know no they they actually partook in in in putting laws into place and and judging between right and wrong okay so kings were not supposed to drink alcohol okay not just it's not just again let alone for drunk if the instruction is not don't fall drunk be careful how much you drink no it's don't touch it at all to both the priests and the kings turn to Revelation chapter 1 verse 6 Revelation chapter 1 verse 6 and I think some of you guys probably know where I'm going with this already but Revelation chapter 1 verse 6 so it's not for priests it's not for kings to drink alcohol okay and you might say to me about yeah but you know Kevin we're not kings and priests well according to God's Word in Revelation chapter 1 verse 6 look at this and have made us kings and priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever amen so what did God make us what are we in his sight we are his children we're saved but he makes us priests and kings priests and kings in his kingdom okay so if if if an earthly Kingdom the priests and the kings of an earthly kingdom are not to touch alcohol not to drink alcohol then how much more the kings and priests of the kingdom of God that's what we are okay we can take these principles from the Old Testament and apply it to us because we are priests and kings okay now let me just say this to you okay I like I said to you you know I've tried alcohol you know growing up and you know I would drink one standard beer which is like 5% alcohol and my behavior didn't change I didn't start babbling I didn't start throwing up you know one beer is probably not going to do that to you right nobody from the outside could see any different I behaved and acted the same way but after one beer I could tell that when I walked my steps weren't 100% I could tell just within myself that I was no longer 100% sober there was just something that was off and when I walked I could tell there was just something but again on the outside nobody would be able to tell the difference and it's then that I realized wow this isn't about getting drunk I'm already drunk there's already something about me that has changed in my body and some people say well you're just weak you know you've got it you have to drink more to get to a point where your body can resist I mean it's not really that is that what God wants from you think God wants us to drink to a point where we can just resist it and then you know we we get to a point where we just we're fully drunk right I mean it's just it's just it's a silly concept and I'm going to show you this a bit later on but that was just one standard beer which is 5% alcohol most standard drinks of wine is somewhere between 12 to 15 percent alcohol three times as much alcohol than a standard beer okay now think about think about our world do we live in a godly nation do we live in a nation that cares about the laws of God or they trying to dismantle the laws of God they're dismantling like they're destroying they destroyed they're trying to destroy marriage they already have destroyed marriage in a way okay with this homosexual marriage but even this world knows that you shouldn't drink and drive okay now if you're a learner driver how much alcohol are you allowed to drink if you turn 16 you get on your L's you get your learner's license how much alcohol does anyone know Lily how much zero exactly why this is an ungodly nation shouldn't they just say hey just just drink it up I mean no because they know if you operate a vehicle that even one drink is going to impair your judgment even one drinks gonna affect you that's the truth okay and I I experienced that don't you can't tell me that that's not the case for you I promise you if you're someone that's that's that's got used to be it's probably that's the first be that you had you probably realize that but after a while your senses got dull and you didn't realize and we'll see you later on that your senses do get dull and you don't even realize the impact the alcohol is going to have on you but I just wanted to look this up I wanted to see what kind of impact on a driver does having more than one be you know what kind of impact does it have on a bottle on a normal stand person a body someone that drinks let me see one two three four five six seven seven beers okay seven beers has substantial impairment in vehicle control has loss of auditory information processing so even their hearings off has a major loss of balance and vomiting may occur okay that's seven beers someone on five beers has clear deterioration of reaction time reduced ability to maintain lane position reduced ability to break appropriately and slurred speech okay what about four beers so we're reducing the amount of alcohol that's being consumed but four beers a reduced ability to concentrate short-term memory loss lack of speed control impaired perception and self-control well what about freebies maybe freebies is good freebies reduced coordination reduced ability to track moving objects moving objects I mean you're in a car that's moving anyway difficulty steering slower response to emergency driving situations that's after three beers what about two beers just two beers a decline in visual functions inability to perform two tasks at the same time loss of judgment altered mood okay this is just this is from the senses of disease control and prevention disease control cuz that's what it is you know alcohol is is toxic to your body okay it and that's two beers so you can't tell me one beers got no effect on you of course it does okay I don't have the effect of one beer but I I know it has an effect on you okay so is drunkenness once you lose your perception and understanding of things you know don't don't think drunkenness is just vomiting and off your face forgetting what what you what you did the night before no as soon as you lose the ability to function you are drunk you were drunk and I'll prove that to you soon so we know yes absolutely this is not controversial drunkenness is a sin and it'll get you kicked out of the church okay the third answer is you know is alcohol sin yes this is the more controversial one yes even just drinking one bottle of beer even just having a sip of beer or wine is a sin yes okay yes it is and this is a controversial one because we're thinking oh in moderation it's okay but again just think about what we just spoke about how much alcohol do you need to impair your judgment just immediately okay you just one beer okay and you know people use this cute word well I'm not drunk I'm tipsy you know I've had just just a moderate amount of alcohol you know and yes it affects a little bit your body yes it does but that's why I'm just tipsy I'm not drunk I'm tipsy well I just looked up what tipsy means in the dictionary but the definition of tipsy means slightly drunk so you're drunk you're just slightly drunk okay so should we drink it in moderation should we just drink it as a casual thing once in a while thing no it's a sin that that's a sin as well and you're slightly drunk according to the world's dictionary okay I probably wouldn't have used that that that I like it though it works works well for my swimming I probably wouldn't have defined it as slightly drunk but that's what the that's what the world's dictionary defines it as slightly drunk and again drunkenness will get you kicked out of the church now turn to the book of Titus please Titus chapter 2 Titus chapter 2 and again I hope I'm giving enough information on some of these points because again I had to cut out a lot of stuff but Titus chapter 2 verse 1 Titus chapter 2 verse 1 now the reason this this um topic of alcohol never really interested me yes again first of all I just I didn't care for it anyway so it doesn't it's not something that impacted my life you know when something impacts your life you're more interested to know about it but the other thing is what I felt in the Bible is that we're commanded so often to be sober to be so to be sober minded and I already knew that one bee affected my sobriety I already knew that one bee put me a little bit off okay so I knew the Bible spoke about being sober and so when someone would ask me that question about alcohol and some of the challenging passages I'll just be I'll just point him to two passages about being sober right being clear minded being sound in mind because we know just a little bit of alcohol has that impact on you but let's look at Titus chapter 2 verse 1 Titus chapter 2 verse 1 so Titus being a pastor here but speak now the things which become sound doctrine now it's saying this is what you need to teach the people in your church that the aged men so the older men in the church be what be sober okay grave temperate sand in faith in charity and patience now I know being sober isn't just not being drunk I know that okay obviously being just being sound being serious you know you know not getting high on other drugs you know that also would be not being sober so but the instruction is being sober and we know alcohol will take away that sobriety but the older men were instructed to be sober and look at verse number three the aged women likewise what's likewise well the same thing that we just said for the men applied to the aged women there okay so the aged women should also be sober that they be in behavior as become of holiness not those accusers not given too much wine teachers of good things look at verse 4 that they may teach their what the young women to be what sober so the old man you need to be sober old ladies you need to be sober young ladies you need to be sober to love their husbands to love their children to be this street chaste keepers at home good obedient to their own husbands that the Word of God be not blasphemed and look at verse number six young men likewise exhort to be sober minded so we see just these first six verses young old man woman be sober okay and for me that was enough for some of that wasn't even interested in alcohol just reading about being sober all right I'm not going to take out to drink alcohol I'm not going to take drugs that put you high I'm going to try to maintain my sobriety so I can be right with God and that's what I was concerned about okay and sometimes I wonder people that just are trying to justify alcohol why you know just just the fact that you need to be sober should make you realize hey this is not for me I shouldn't be drinking this stuff because it has an impact upon my mental state it has an impact on my body turn to Proverbs 23 so that the chapter that Jason read to us Proverbs chapter 23 Proverbs 23 let's have a look at these verses now Proverbs 23 Proverbs 23 verse 29 Proverbs 23 29 who have whoa what does well mean misery who's who's miserable who have sorrow that's depressed depression who's miserable and depressed who have contentions that's strife and struggles right who have babbling what's babbling it's like foolish talking like talking nonsense who have wounds without cause so you're injured for no reason okay who are these people who have redness of eyes that's like inflammation in the eyes who are these people right chapter verse 30 they that tarry long at the wine they that go and seek mixed wine so people that are constantly drinking wine they tarry long at the wine these are drunkards these are drunkards that have the woe the sorrow the contentions the babbling the wounds without cause the redness of eyes verse 31 now verse I want to expand on verse 31 a little bit because I've seen some crazy teaching on this verse 31 look not thou upon the wine when it is red when he giveth his color in the cup when it moveth itself are right so first of all those that teach complete abstinence and kind of teach that even though they probably wouldn't use these words but it's almost like the chemical compound itself is a sin so you can't even look at it they'll take this verse I say it says not to look upon it not to look upon the wine and it doesn't say it does say that let's give them credit it does say that but I don't believe that's the actual context because again alcohol can be used for positive purposes okay and you've got you've all got alcohol somewhere in your house I promise you that okay so does that mean looking at your toothpaste makes you you know a sinner no of course not okay but let's get the context see let's stick to the context the other version I heard is that those that support moderate drinking okay moderate drink let's say well this is just about someone that's drunk okay so when it says look not there upon the wine when it is red and then it says when he giveth his color in the cup the same they're so drunk that when they look at the drink at their alcohol it's changing color you know it goes from red to blue to purple or something right that's how drunk they are and then it says when it moveth itself all right so not only is the drink changing color but it's moving and that's how drunk they are that's what they say now so it's kind of like that's the definition of being drunk that's when you realize you're drunk so are you telling me these people that say that are you telling me that you can drink alcohol to the point where your drinks change in color and moving itself and you like I never had enough I mean if if your drink is changing color and it's moving you're off your face you are more than drunk you you've completely lost it right you're you're just having you know illusions like you're seeing illusions and you've lost your mindset I mean you're well drunk before this even happens but you see how silly that is right how silly it is to think that and to teach that I believe the context is this yes it's about alcohol and drunkards but it says look not there upon the wine when it is red so what it's the what does it mean to be red wine when wine is red so if you took a white if you took a grape and you just squeeze the grape and you just drank the juice it's you know if you peel the the the skin it's white isn't it it's like a clear white color and if you drink the juice it's kind of clear white color okay and you guys probably heard of red wine and white wine okay and so red wine to make it red what they do when they when they are when they press it when they when they squash it it's not just the juice it's not just the fruit but the skin which is a dark like brown brown or dark red color and the seeds of the of the of the grape which is dark in color as well mixed together the juice makes it red and so on the skin of the grape there is usually a yeast already just natural produced what yeast on that skin which is then used to ferment that drink and again you know you know distributors of alcohol will usually add more yeast and more sugar in it anyway for their purposes but that's why it's red it's red because it's been squeezed with the with the skin and the seeds and the fermentation process has taken place because the yeast is mixing in with that breaking down that sugar that's there so this is an alcoholic beverage okay and then you've got white wine and the difference with white wine not that it matters but just to tell you is they they press it without the skin and without the seeds and they usually use the white grapes as well okay so that's why it remains that color it remains white anyway that's not important but then it says this when it moves itself all rights so this is definitely drink that's been fermented because when that bacteria breaks down the sugar and it ferments it causes a gas or bubbly you know substance to develop in that in that drink again if you've left fruit juice out for too long you'll start to notice that it starts to bubble up have you ever drunken fruit juice that was off and then you kind of drink it it's like it's bubbly and it's like man that's it that's alcohol it's got a bit of alcohol in it yeah because you taste that bubbly fizzy feeling in your mouth that's because the fermentation process has taken place so it's moving itself it's turned red in the context of wine this is an alcoholic wine okay so when are we not to look upon it is it just alcohol in general no it's when you've got that cup of alcohol and you're going to consume that that's to get away from that just don't even look at it okay and that's where the sin is is when you've got that cup and you're going to partake of that alcoholic beverage okay that's when you're not to look upon and especially if you've been addicted in the past if you've been a drunk in the past I mean yeah maybe just don't even don't even look at a bar yeah probably that's probably good good wisdom anyway okay though I don't think that's the context of what this is teaching look at verse 32 look at verse 32 and at last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder so it's like a venomous snake because alcohol is toxic that's why we use that word intoxication is because it's toxic to your body it's dangerous to your body it attacks especially your liver it can totally destroy your liver because your liver tries to break down that alcohol he panics and it can destroy your liver verse 33 thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter perverse things if you get drunk you're gonna start looking at women that are not your wife you're gonna start having lustful eyes and it says in thine heart shall utter perverse things I think out of abundance of the heart the mouth speaker you know you're probably gonna be that flirtatious you know you know trying to get that woman you know whatever that's that's what drunkards do and and often you hear about people that have slept with you know committed adultery or fornication and they say I was drunk yeah that because that's what alcohol does to you we can't blame the alcohol you blame yourself you blame yourself for the senior that you've done verse 34 yay thou shall be as he that life down in the midst of the sea or is he that life upon the top of a mast so think about if you just lying in the middle of the ocean you know you're being carried about with the waves or if you're on a ship and he's been moved by the waves it's going to be most rocky and most movement there's gonna be most movement if you're on top of the mast because you're gonna be moving the most from that from that sort of heights compared to just on the floor so basically it's saying here is is alcohol will make you unbalanced and we know that okay we know that people that are that drink alcohol and especially that are drunk lose their balance and can fall okay and can hurt themselves verse 35 they have stricken me shout they'll say and I was not sick they have beaten me and I felt it not so a drunk person can be beaten can suffer wounds and not feel it because that's that's stupefied they made dumb okay and they can hurt themselves they're taking advantage of by other people and then it says look at this when shall I awake I will seek it yet again so even though they're miserable even though they have wounds without cause even though they throw up and and they destroy their lives on alcohol when they wake up the next morning what do they want they want it again they're addicted alcohol is an addictive substance and it will destroy your life okay especially kids listening please stay away from that junk okay if you're saved you're a priest and king of the Lord God and he tells you not to drink this stuff okay problems 20 verse 1 says wine is a mocker strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise wine can deceive you okay to deceiver it's a mocker okay I mean how foolish you have to be to be mocked by a drink that can't talk a drink that has no power of you and yet by drinking it it does have power of you and it does mock you and it says you will not be wise okay those are the key things I wanted to cover today is alcohol a sin no I don't believe the chemical compound what alcohol is is a sin okay and and this is where especially fathers you need to make judgment in your house you know what what kind of alcoholic products you would want in your house okay well I personally for example I don't have a problem with vanilla extract though it's like 35% alcohol like if you took that and drank it you you would get drunk especially a little kid you know would drink that they'd feel drunk and you know your conscience may be you know what I don't want that in my house and that's fine you know again some of these things you're gonna have to dictate by your conscience and you need to make sure that you know your your your you know you protect your family okay now give you another example if I went to a restaurant and I've done this before where I've ordered spaghetti spaghetti bolognese and I didn't know I didn't notice at the time but wine was used for the sauce right and I like I don't you know it's being cooked you know if there's any trace of alcohol it's so you know my new it's not not anything but you know III was fine it's not against my it's not against my conscience to eat that but now that I'm a pastor I gave a church and if I ate out with some of you or other Christians especially especially newer believers I would be more careful not to take food like that because you know you might cause that weaker brother to stumble they might look at that go well he doesn't seem to have a problem with alcohol being used to make that sauce does that mean alcohols are right and then they go out and get themselves drunk or something like that okay so obviously you know where you stand where your position is you maybe want to be more careful about these things and again I'm gonna leave those those thoughts of conscience for you know I'm not going to tell you every little thing of how you should manage your house and manage your life so you know this is something fathers and and and husbands ought to take control of in their house okay now how do I decide who gets kicked out of the out of the church on this on this issue on drunkenness I'm not going to kick you out if there's reported you know if it's reported that you've got alcohol in your house okay because again I've just told you I've got vanilla extract in my house okay so I'm not that's not the thing that you get kicked out of okay I'm not necessarily even going to kick someone out just for having if we find out they had they had a beer or something okay but if they get drunk okay if they get off their face drunk and we have confirmed reports of that I'm not going to talk to you about that you're just going to get kicked out of the church okay because that is the command that we're given in first Corinthians chapter five okay and again you can repent you know apologize and get back into church that's fine but if there's confirmed reports of you getting off your face drunk you're getting kicked out of the church but I take it one step further as well and that's if someone in the church invites another believer in the church to come out for a drink okay I know they're not drunk at that point in time but let me just read to you Habakkuk 2 verse 15 Habakkuk 2 verse 15 it says this woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink that put aside bottle to him and makest him drunken also that thou mayest look on their nakedness so this is a serious thing you offering your neighbor to drink it says here you're making him drunken also okay and it's my responsibility as the pastor of this church the bishop of this church to look after this church and to oversee this church I mean if you're taking as far as I'm concerned if you're inviting someone out to the pub for a drink you you you've been you you are a drunkard as far as I'm concerned you know I don't need to confirm reports I know you're a drunkard otherwise you would not be trying to influence your fellow brethren to come have a drink with you okay you're just trying to make them sin so you can feel better about yourself and what's what do we really need to have back act they may look upon their nakedness you know this person wants to take advantage of another person and this is two men that by the way it is two men right this is homosexuality anyway I don't want to go there right now but obviously you know people that call that cause you to go and have a drink are trying to take advantage of you so one way or another and I've seen this in business I've seen business practice where you take a colleague or you take someone out for a drink hey you know just just catching you know just just friendly drink but then you do it so they can get stupid and and and do some sort of business deal in your favor I've heard of that before I don't know if you guys have heard of that but yeah people try to take advantage of one another and actually the sin number six that will get you kicked out of church we'll talk about that some other time is extortion when you force you know someone to make decisions and it's kind of the same idea getting someone drunk making them stupid they can't discern probably and taking advantage of them to me that will also get you kicked out of the church that's all I've got let's pray